Scarred
by Kimmi-chan92
Summary: Your gut is roiling and churning, and you just feel sick. Something has happened. Or is happening. Or will happen. You're not sure which, and you don't know what, but you know you have to go back. Because you know it has to do with her. (If Sasuke had been there the day Sakura fought Sasori.) Rated T for violence.


**Scarred**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

You ignore the nagging feeling, the little voice in the back of your mind that tells you to stay when _she_ tells you to go. That she will be fine. You know she is strong. You know she is capable. So you go.

After the first tremor, you hesitate and look back over your shoulder. You know she is fighting. But you turn back around and press on after your sensei and your blonde-headed best friend, chasing after the madman who is flying ahead of you, taunting you from the back of his clay creation. Because you have a mission to complete. And you know she would be angry if you put her before the mission.

The second tremor nearly gets you blown to bits because your head whips around on instinct, presenting your back to the enemy and leaving you vulnerable to the innocuous looking missiles zipping toward you that, in all actuality, are very deadly. Only a yell of warning from your sensei and your keenly honed reflexes allow you to escape relatively unscathed.

Your sensei appears in front of you and looks you in the eye. You briefly wonder if he is searching for something. After a moment, his mouth flattens into a grim line under his ever-present mask, and he inclines his head toward the path behind you.

"Go."

You hold his gaze for a moment longer before giving him a brief nod and then sprinting back the way you came.

As you get closer, something builds inside your chest, constricting it. You have to hurry. You have to go faster. Your lungs scream at you as your feet pound over rocks, sticks, leaves, and whatever else is in your way. You ignore them and push yourself harder.

Because something is wrong.

Your gut is roiling and churning, and you just feel _sick_. Something has happened. Or is happening. Or will happen. You're not sure which, and you don't know what, but you know you have to go back. Because you know it has to do with _her_.

The cave where you left her comes into view and you squint, trying to make sense of what you are seeing. The dome roof of the cave is no longer there. Instead, there seems to be some sort of cloud hovering in its place.

You blink and your eyes are red. You focus on the cloud, hoping that your bloodline will give you an answer as to what it really is.

And then you wish you hadn't.

Because you realize with horror that the cloud isn't a cloud at all. It's hundreds of bodies suspended in the air, bodies that are armed to the teeth with swords, knives, needles. And you remember she is fighting a puppet master.

No sooner has that thought entered your mind does the mass of fighting machines dive swiftly down into the cave. Down into where you know she is. Your heart jumps into your throat as the sick feeling of dread redoubles within you with a vengeance.

As you get closer, you begin to hear the _clang_ of metal against metal, and every once in awhile a puppet (or just pieces of one) will fly up into the air above the cave walls before falling back down once again. And you know that it is her doing. You've seen—and felt—the power she holds in her fists.

As if in response to your thoughts, a third tremor—this one much more powerful due to your proximity—rocks the surrounding area. Your progress is halted momentarily as you regain your footing.

Then the tremor subsides and everything is utterly, eerily still. You listen for a moment, and when you hear nothing, your feet begin moving forward, slowly at first, but then with increasing haste as you close in on the cave. The walls are only one hundred feet away.

You reach the base and are gathering your chakra to make the jump to the top of the walls that are blocking her from your view when you hear a chilling, terror-filled scream.

"_CHIYO-BAA-SAMA!_"

It is her voice.

You top the wall in an instant, preparing yourself to charge down to her aid. However, when you look down into the battlefield, your legs (and all of the rest of you, for that matter) refuse to move. Because your blood has turned to ice in your veins and you are frozen.

But your eyes... Oh, your eyes are working just fine. Your kekkei genkai. Your pride and joy. And you want nothing more at that moment than to rip them out of your head.

Because with them, you see everything.

You see the poison dripping off of the katana only inches from her gut. You see the trajectory of the blade and know it is going to hit a vital point. You see her skin give the moment the deadly weapon first presses against it before it pierces into her. You see the small spray of blood as the tip of the blade enters and the exact moment it exits through her back. You see more blood that spatters across the Sand elder's face as she looks on in shock. And you see the crimson that trails down one side of her mouth to drop off her chin.

Who knew that a mere second in time could be made up of so many details? And that one second would haunt you for the rest of your life, forever embedded into your memory because of your gift (or was it a curse?).

For a moment, everything is still. Then the silence is shattered when someone yells her name. The cry echoes around the stone walls. It is hoarse and panicked. It is desperate.

It is you.

Three pairs of eyes lock onto you, but you only care about the glistening jade ones that widen when they find you. And that is all it takes for your blood to thaw and suddenly a white hot fury replaces all of the ice in your veins. You leap from the top of the wall, intent on ripping the other man (puppet?) in front of you apart joint by joint.

But then your view is suddenly obscured by two figures in black. Puppets. Chipped and damaged and missing pieces, but still outfitted with a dangerous array of weapons.

They are keeping you from her, keeping you from saving her. You let out a roar of frustration and anger and charge them with a ferocity that has their joints creaking and popping. But they remain planted in your way.

As you fight, you catch glimpses of the trio behind them.

She has grabbed hold of the blade. She is healing herself.

_Dodge, kick, duck, swipe, block._

The man has detached himself from his sword. He wields another, smaller one now.

_Slice, spin, jump, stab, punch_.

He is charging. She is not moving.

_No! No, no, no, no, no!_

His arm is lifted to deal the final blow.

"NO!"

You hear the whistling of a blade cutting through the air, a sickening, squelching noise, and then silence.

And you know she is dead.

A blinding white pain rips through your eyes, and you release a pulse of chakra so strong that the puppets in front of you are blown apart. You fall to your knees with your eyes clenched shut and double over in pain, emotional and physical.

She's gone. You didn't make it in time. It's all your fault. She's... She's...

"Sasuke...kun."

Your head jerks up and all at once, you see. You see the swords protruding through the chest of the man before her. You see the chakra strings attached at one end to the puppets wielding those swords and to the elder's fingers at the other. And you see her, still alive, still breathing. She gives you a small, brief smile and you are tempted to return it. But then her smile drops and her eyes begin to shut.

And you see her fall.

You try to jump up and run to her, but your energy has left you. Instead, you stumble and scramble frantically over the broken, uneven earth on your hands and knees until you reach her side. The Sand elder sits on her other side and lifts glowing green hands to hover over her injury. You stare down at her for a moment, unsure of what to do, before you place her head gently in your lap and grip one of her slim hands in between your two larger ones.

She whimpers and squeezes one of your hands as the elder pulls the sword out of her and you use your free hand to stroke her hair, muttering reassurances and promises:

"Almost there."

"It will be over soon."

"You're going to be ok."

Then the sword is out and she is still once more. As the elder pours more and more chakra (now blue) into her, you begin to get more worried. Your words to her become more desperate:

"Come on, Sakura!"

"Don't die on me! Don't you dare die!"

"Please don't leave us! Don't leave...me."

The elder's chakra blinks out and you look up at her in question. She sits back tiredly and slowly smiles. Then you feel the hair under your hand shift and you look down to see two unfocused jade eyes blinking slowly up at you.

"Sasuke-kun?"

It is hesitant and unsure. Then:

"You're eyes..."

You respond by lifting the top half of her body up to yours in a firm but gentle embrace. You rest your chin on her shoulder and take a deep, shuddering breath.

"I thought... I thought I'd lost you."

This is both an explanation and a confession.

She is silent for a long moment, and then you feel her arms wrap around you, one hand sliding soothingly through your hair and the other rubbing gently up your back to rest at your shoulder. Then she speaks.

"I'm not going anywhere."

And you hear in those words a promise that goes far beyond the here and now. It is a promise of forever.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Years later, you lay awake gazing at the woman sleeping beside you. Her back is to you, and you look first at your clan symbol sewn onto the back of her night shirt. It is now her clan symbol too. Then your gaze lowers to where the shirt has ridden up to reveal the skin of her lower back. There you see the raised white line, the reminder of your failure that day, one that will never disappear.

Her scar.

You reach out and gently run your finger down the line from top to bottom. The light touch rouses her and she turns over to slip her arms around you and nestle her head under your chin. She knows what you were doing. She knows that sometimes you still feel guilty. Before she drifts back to sleep, she mumbles something into your neck, the same promise she gave you on that day years ago.

"I'm not going anywhere. I love you, Sasuke-kun."

As her breathing evens out once again, you place a gentle kiss on her forehead, pull her closer to you, and close your eyes.

_And I love you... Sakura._

_ ~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~_

**Ta-da! My *counts on fingers* third story here on FF. I decided to try a new style for this story, so let me know what you think, if you don't mind.**

** I, like many other SasuSaku fans, was intrigued by the idea of what Sasuke's reaction would be to Sakura's scar from her fight with Sasori. However, I wanted my idea to be original, so I made him actually be there when it happened. I've not seen a story like that before, so I decided to go for it. Also, if it was too vague for you to catch, he acquires the Mangekyō Sharingan in this story.**

**That being said, this is obviously AU. However, I was at war with myself as to "which Sasuke" this would be. I have three options**

**Non-massacre Sasuke**

**Sasuke did go through the massacre, but decided not to leave Konoha**

**Sasuke defeated Orochimaru and returned to Konoha sometime during the time-skip, before going to look for Itachi**

**So, if you have an opinion on this matter, let me know! Or if you liked the story. Or if you didn't like the story. Or if you just have something random that you have been itching to share with someone. Whatever strikes your fancy. I hope you lovely folks are having a great start to 2014!**

**-Kimmi-chan92**


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